1910-1919

1910-1919 - Page Text Content

BC: Important People/Things | President Woodrow Wilson-28th President of the United States. He was the president who led the nation into war and proposed his League of Nations. He was strongly criticized for his late declaration of war. When the war ended, the Allied Powers focused more on punishing Germany than future peace, and his League of Nations idea was rejected. Jazz-Jazz music began to gain popularity in the late 1910s and was the music back then. New Orleans was a major "jazz city" and became very popular in the 1920s. Airplanes in War-In the 1900s, the Wright brothers had invented and flown the first airplane. By WWI, airplanes had gained popularity. At first, they were flown as recon planes to show what the enemy was doing. When ever a pilot would come across another pilot, he would take out a pistol and try to shoot the other pilot down. But as the war kept going, the newly invented machine gun was mounted on to the plane, and later on, bombs were added to be dropped from the sky. Tanks-The first tank was used by the British on September 8th 1915. It was to help fix the "stalemate" that was created by trench warfare. It was slow and stalled a lot.

FC: 1910-1919 Jordan Yousef Jacob Hangartner

1: 1912-Sinking of the Titanic | On April 14, 1912, the ship Titanic struck an ice burg and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. 1,500 people were killed. Even though the captain had received many ice warnings, he continued forward. Confusion followed. Because the ship was supposed too be unsinkable, there were not enough lifeboats for everyone. In the disaster report, some people said the crew shot passengers for spots on the life boat.

2: 1912-Girl Scouts | Juliette Gordon founded the girl scouts in 1912 after the boy scouts of America were founded. It encourages girls to get to know the outdoors and teaches survival skills. Soon the girl scouts spread all over America. In late 1912, it already had 15,000 members and was continuing to expand.

3: 1915-The Sinking of the Lusitania | In 1915, while Europe was fighting WWI, the ship Lusitania was sailing off the coast of Ireland when it was hit, without warning, by a German torpedo. 1,198 people were killed including 128 Americans. It is thought to be one of the factors that made America declare war on Germany. The Lusitania was a ship belonging to the British. Although many Americans wanted to go to war, President Wilson kept the country out for another two years. Germany paid compensation for the lives of the 128 Americans, but refused to apologize for the attack.

4: 1914-1918-WWI | In 1914, after years of making alliances with other countries, war erupted in Europe. The heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was murdered. Austria-Hungary blamed the murder on Serbia and invaded the country. For the next few months, countries declared war on each other. They formed the Allied and Central Powers. Allies consisted of England, Russia, France, and later in the war, America. WWI also created a new type of warfare-trench warfare. Both sides would dig trenches for miles and live in those trenches until an attack. This proved devastating because when another side attacked, soldiers would easily kill them with a new gun called a machine gun, which could fire up to 600 rounds a minute. In an attack, the attacking side would usually take heavy casualties. Also, most trenches were filthy. Trenches were filled with flesh eating rats, deadly lice, and foot fungus. Too make it worse, each trench usually had a pile of infected bodies that could not be buried. The bodies were left to decompose. Terrible smells filled the trenches due to this. The war lasted a total of 4 years and was the second deadliest war in history;WWII was the deadliest. It also paved the way for the world to go to war again when Hitler rose to power. 9,911,000 soldiers were killed in the conflict.

5: 1917-United States Enters the WWI | In 1915, Germany was sinking passenger ships. When they sank the Lusitania in 1915, the country wanted to go to war. Former president Roosevelt had put pressure on Wilson to declare war. But still he waited. Germany agreed to stop unrestricted submarine warfare, but continued in 1917. Germany knew that the U.S. would enter the war when they continued to sink passenger ships. In a secret letter to Mexico, Germany asked Mexico to fight in the war for the Central Powers and in return, Germany would give Mexico money and troops to gain back the land Mexico lost 70 years before in the Mexican-American War. England intercepted the letter and gave it to Woodrow Wilson. After showing the letter to the American citizens, he asked congress to declare war on Germany and its allies, and on April 16, 1917, the United States entered WWI on the Allied side.

6: 1918-German Cease Fire and Treaty of Versailles | Once the United States entered the war, Germany began to loose. On November 11, 1918, Germany agreed to a cease fire and surrendered. President Wilson wanted to impose his 14 points plan. He wanted a League of Nations to try and prevent another war. But the other Allied Powers did not like his plan. Instead, all they were focused on was punishing Germany. They believed that Germany was to blame for the war. They wrote the Treaty of Versailles. In it, Germany had to pay the Allied Powers a large amount of money, which would equal about $442 billion today. They also had to accept responsibility for the war and give back all the land they won. And, they had to limit the size of the army and destroy most of their weapons. After the treaty was signed, Germany fell into a deep economical depression. Their money became worthless. This lead Adolph Hitler to power and caused the Second World War, which cost more lives than the First World War.

7: 1918-1920-Flu Pandemic | The 1918-1920 Flu Pandemic was an epidemic that spread around the world. It started in an army base in Kansas. Albert Mitchell walked into the clinic with a headache and other flu like symptoms. He was told to rest in bed. 2 days later, 522 people had gotten sick with the flu. At other military bases, people got it. In a week, it had reached Alcatraz. Soon thousands of people were sick. Every state in America had reported the flu. Many of the people infected died of pneumonia, and since there were no antibiotics to fight it, many people just died. The Health Department issued new rules to try and control the virus like not allowing people to smoke in cars or public places. It spread around the world quickly too. Japan, China, Russia, and England reported flu related deaths. In America alone, 850,000 people died of the disease, and America had the lowest death rate in the world. More people died of the pandemic than died in World War I. What made it unique was that it prayed on middle aged people, from 20-40 years old; the infected people were usually healthy, making it even worse. It finally left in 1920, leaving almost as quickly as it came.